Fanja Club set to launch $300mn sports infrastructure project

By
Ashok Purohit

November 25, 2012

Muscat -

Fanja Club, one of Oman's most popular sports outfits, is set to launch the country's biggest sports infrastructure development project.

The ambitious US$300mn Sah al Ahmar project will be officially announced on Sunday by the club and the venture's promoters New Investment Company in which Sheikh Talal bin Mohammed al Sabah, a member of the Kuwaiti royal family, is a majority shareholder.

The project, which will cover an overall area of 300,000sq m in Sah al Ahmar, near Fanja, is expected to be completed by early 2015.

“It is a dream come true for me and the club's board members,” Hamyar al Ismaily, chairman, Fanja Club, told Muscat Daily. “We hope this will help the club become self-reliant, and help the youth of Oman become top-class sportspersons.”

The project aims to put in place world-class sports infrastructure comprising two football grounds, two tennis courts, a nine-hole golf course, separate indoor gymnasiums for men and women, an indoor multi-purpose hall, sports hospital, sports hostel and a school.

A world-class 40-lane bowling alley will also be part of the initiative.

Besides the sports facilities, the project will include a shopping mall, a five-star hotel, an aqua park, an administration building, a cinema and 60 villas.

The promoters are expected to sign a 30-year lease deal with the club following which the property will be owned by Fanja Club.

Once the project implementation begins, the club is expected to receive a fund of RO150,000 per annum. Apart from the monetary benefits, once the project is completed, the club will be given six villas and 400 free nights per year at the five-star hotel.

Besides, the 'state of the art' sports hospital will provide free treatment to the club's players while 20 players will be provided free education at the school.

A football academy is also expected to come up at the new facility.

Fanja, the defending Omantel Elite League football champion, is also an eight-time His Majesty's Cup winner and is believed to have the largest fan-following in the sultanate.